


Cathy With a C (and a Y)

by boleynhowards



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: F/F, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:16:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28801188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boleynhowards/pseuds/boleynhowards
Summary: Cathy is a regular at the coffee shop. Anne is a new barista who keeps spelling her name wrong.
Relationships: Anne Boleyn/Catherine Parr
Comments: 5
Kudos: 65





	Cathy With a C (and a Y)

Cathy Parr was a regular at the coffee shop. When her university had offered her a place in their body, she had no choice to accept; but that didn’t mean she was feeling all too eager about the thought of living in a busy city. She was already an introvert, but moving from the small town she had grown up in and into a bustling city centre all by herself made things just a little bit harder.

That was probably what she liked the coffee shop so much. Since she had moved to the city, it had quickly become her favourite place in town. Lodged in between a perfume store and a dessert bar, the small café was barely noticeable among the other buildings lined up around it, making it feel like a small slice of peace and quiet amidst the bedlam of shoppers, tourists, commuters and students alike.

Soon after she discovered it, Cathy was at the place every day. Whether she wanted a place to unwind after class, was stopping off for a pick-me-up drink after a particularly gruelling shift at work or just wanted a break from the four bland walls of her dorm room, the coffee shop was always the place to go. Oftentimes she brought along her notebook to study on or her laptop to write with, just so she had something to do while she was there. On other occasions, she was perfectly content with just sitting there, staring into space while she entertained herself with daydream after daydream. No matter how she spent it, any time she hid away from the world in the little booth in the corner of the coffee shop brought her solace.

Naturally, after spending a few months in the city and making almost daily visits to the café, she came to know the employees. Not that she was on first name basis with any of them; she was much too awkward for that. But she did recognise them all and was slowly starting to remember their different shifts. That was how she quite quickly noticed a new face among the ranks behind the counter.

Just like everyone else who worked there, the new girl was young, most likely working the job alongside post eighteen education for some spare cash. From this distance, Cathy couldn’t make out any distinguishing features other than her brown hair, but she was able to easily watch her body language. There was a spring in her step as she moved around the establishment. Every time she brought an order to a sitter she seemed haphazard, just barely avoiding spilling the cups over. She seemed to be talkative to the other employees when she was behind the counter, as well as being a little messy as far as making drinks went.

Cathy decided she was interesting.

For the first few days, however, Cathy never actually got served by her. Most of the time, she was much too busy being trained by one of the older employees in the dos and don’ts of a De’Longhi Dedica Coffee Maker to actually serve anyone. When she finally did get to work the rest of her time without supervision, Cathy was either on her last coffee or getting ready to leave.

Training doesn’t take forever though. Actually, it doesn’t take a very long time at all. At least, it didn’t in the coffee shop. By the next week, the new barista no longer had another employee attached at her hip for half the time, finally able to move through her shift without any supervision. That was the day that Cathy saw her for the first time.

It was on the way home from a shift at her own job. Having spent a day heavy lifting boxes full of books and shelving them, Cathy was half tempted to just go straight home and go to sleep. Then, of course, she passed the café and, now she was looking at it, she couldn’t say no. Slipping in through the door, she was instantly greeted with the light humming of machines at work and the distinct smell of coffee hanging in the air, and she instantly knew she had chosen the right option.

Cathy walked up to the counter, looking over at the tables. Most of them were empty, which only made sense considering it was getting a little late. In her observations, she didn’t even recognise who was serving her until she turned back around at the sound of somebody clearing their throat. She felt her mouth go dry as she realised that she was finally being served by the new barista she had been watching for the past week, and now she was finally close enough to see every detail of her face.

Bright green eyes looked curiously across at her as they waited for an order, shining a little in the light from above. Makeup had been carefully applied so that it just barely pushed the boundaries of the dress code, but not enough to be forced to wash it away. She had lots of piercings; namely a septum ring, but there were all types of helixes and lobes too, a different pattern on each ear. Travelling her eyes downward, Cathy also noticed manicured nails drumming against the ordering monitor, but what she had really been searching for was the name tag pinned to the front of the apron. And she found it; _Anne_.

Quickly shooting her eyes back up, Cathy made contact with Anne again.

“Iced vanilla latte. Please.” She quickly said, hoping she hadn’t stood in silence for too long.

The barista– no, Anne– hummed in response, giving a slight nod and beginning to tap a few buttons on the touch screen. Her nails clicked as she did. Cathy stood there and simply watched, and for some reason was taken off guard when Anne looked up again.

“What size?” She asked, and it was the first time Cathy heard her speak. They had different regional accents, but Anne’s seemed to fit into the city environment more.

“Uh, medium.” Cathy offered a sheepish smile as she spoke.

“Alright,” Anne confirmed, tapping another pop up before looking up again. “Can I get you anything else with that?”

“No thanks.”

“Okay. I just need your name then.”

“Cathy.”

“I’ll get your order ready for you.”

Cathy nodded and moved along to the end of the queue, watching quietly as Anne turned around and began throwing ice into blenders and warming up machines. Somewhere, she had read that coffee making was an art. She wondered if Anne saw it like that too, but guessed that by the way she was rushing to fill up the cup that she did not.

As she was the only order, Cathy’s drink was ready in a short amount of time. Anne picked up the blender handle, swinging the jug off the pedestal and around, pouring the contents into a medium-sized cup before fixing a lid on top. Stopping only to wipe up a little bit of spillage, Anne spun on her heel to face Cathy again, picking up a sharpie and scrawling her name over the side before finally holding it out for her to take.

“Here you go.” She flashed a smile, and even though Cathy knew it was just work etiquette she couldn’t help but notice how endearing it was.

“Thanks,” Cathy said, carefully taking the cup with a bundle of tissues so as not to make her hand cold. She returned the look with a small smile of her own, taking a straw from the container atop the counter surface and then tapping her card against the contactless payment area before finally leaving.

As soon as she was out of the door, Cathy took a sip of the drink. It was icy in her mouth, especially in the wake of dusk, but she still found it just as refreshing as it always was.

When she pulled the cup away from her mouth, she saw it for the first time. _Kathy_ , scrawled across the side of the cup in handwriting that was barely legible. Raising her eyebrows, there was an amused look on Cathy’s face as she studied it, making sure she wasn’t mistaking a ‘K’ for a ‘C’ in Anne’s messy doodle. Further inspection proved that that was definitely not the case; the letter was easily distinguishable, even if the rest of her name was a scribble. Laughing quietly to herself, Cathy took a second sip. It was the first time a barista at any coffee shop had ever messed up her name, so she was a little entertained with the mishap. What she didn’t know was that it definitely wasn’t going to be the last.

Two more days passed. On the first day, Anne wasn’t working. On the second she was, but it was much too busy with an afternoon rush of customers for her to be doing anything other than hastily fixing up drinks, so Cathy was served by somebody else. Only on the third day was Cathy served by Anne again, and this time the shop was infinitely less busy than the day prior.

She was in a little bit of an angry mood as she walked in that morning, keeping her gaze fixed to the floor for the whole way towards the counter until she finally had to look up to speak to the barista. It was then that she was met with the same green eyes from a few nights ago.

“Morning.” Anne politely smiled at her, seemingly in high spirits. “What can I get for you?”

“Black coffee,” Cathy said plainly, trying to force her muscles to return the gesture. “Medium, please.”

“Alright.” Anne didn’t bother to tap at buttons on the monitor this time. “You’re Cathy, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” She nodded, a little surprised that Anne still remembered despite serving her only once, and that was a few days ago now.

Instead of making it herself, Anne turned around and nudged one of the other employees, asking them to make it instead. Albeit begrudgingly, the person still got to work, and Anne turned back to face Cathy. She rested her elbows on her own side of the counter, leaning towards Cathy with enquiry.

“Are you okay?” She asked, tilting her head to the side a little.

“Uh, yeah,” Cathy replied uncertainly. She wasn’t used to the baristas talking to her any more than asking for her order.

“Are you sure? You just look like something’s bothering you.”

Cathy shrugged. She supposed it was okay to just say what was on her mind; it was nothing too heavy and it would probably do her some good to get it off her chest. Even if it was to a barista, of all people.

“I’m just pissed off because my class today was cancelled,” Cathy explained and Anne raised an eyebrow. “Not that that’s a bad thing. But my professor didn’t even email in advance, so I got up early and got ready and everything, only to walk over there and find a note on the door that it’s been cancelled.”

“Oh.” Anne grimaced. “That’s annoying. Happens to the best of us though.”

“Yeah.” Cathy dolefully agreed. Her eyes travelled to the employee behind Anne, who looked like they were fighting the machine. Great. 

Luckily, Anne was ready to keep her occupied.

“What are you studying, anyway?”

“English language,” Cathy responded. “I still don’t know what to do when I leave though.”

“Well, it’s good to keep your options open, or you’ll end up in a retail job like this.” Anne lightly joked but quickly followed it up. “Nah. Being a barista isn’t too bad. I like to meet new people.”

“I’m not good at meeting new people.” Cathy instantly replied, but then regretted it. “I just get… awkward.”

“Not everyone’s an extrovert.” Anne shrugged. “That’s okay.”

Before Cathy could respond, the other employee was tapping Anne on the shoulder and handing her the cup of black coffee, lid fixed and ready to go. Apparently, they had finally got the machine working. With a quiet thanks, Anne picked the sharpie up from her side of the counter and began writing onto the cup.

“Cathy.” She mumbled as she scribed the name on, and then held the drink out. “I’m Anne by the way.”

“Thank you.” Cathy took the cup and rested it down onto the counter surface. Of course, she already knew Anne’s name, but she wasn’t going to say that. Rather, she fished her debit card out from her purse and was about to tap it against the reader, but Anne quickly covered it up with her hand before she could pay.

“Don’t worry about it.” She said.

“Why?”

“On the house. Hopefully it’ll cheer you up a little.”

“Is that allowed?”

“No. But management aren’t going to realise one cup of coffee going unpaid for.”

“Well, thanks.” Cathy shyly smiled, dropping her card back into her purse and picking up the drink.

“No problem.” Anne beamed in return, straightening her posture and taking a step back into the kitchen. “Now go home and watch a movie or something.”

Cathy nodded in return, zipping up her bag once she had dropped her purse back in and then walking from the café, free drink in hand. Even though she had ordered black to match her bitter mood, she was feeling much more alleviated than before as she stepped back out onto the street. Free service was apparently a great stress reliever.

As she pulled the drink away, she didn’t fail to notice once again the scrawl of her name across the polystyrene side of the cup. Like before, it was misspellt, but this time in a different way - Kathi _._ Somehow it had gotten even worse from the first spelling, but Cathy couldn’t help but laugh about it still. Maybe a barista of all people was just the right person to lift her spirits after all.

In the weeks that followed, Cathy talked to Anne more and more whenever she visited the coffee shops. Most of the time it was whilst Anne prepared Cathy’s order. Other times, when there were no customers, Anne would move out from behind the counter and come and sit at Cathy’s table, letting the time pass with conversation until somebody walked in for her to serve. If the shop was so busy that there was no time to talk, Anne still managed to spare a few seconds to send Cathy warm smiles from across the floor while she juggled taking was, making and serving orders.

Through those conversations, Cathy slowly got a lot more comfortable with Anne. In fact, she was pretty sure she had made her first real friend in the city, even if they didn’t really speak outside the coffee shop. Cathy had also learnt a lot about Anne as time passed. Namely, she was just a few years older and had graduated from university last year with a performing arts and drama degree. Searching for jobs in her field was a little hard and Anne had yet to find one, but she was managing by working this job and chipping in rent and housekeep living with other friends.

Those were just the basics though. Another thing Cathy had more so realised than learnt was that Anne was just her type. She was witty, had good humour, sharp and pretty intelligent when it was needed. There was always some sort of flavour to her conversations, never having the same moment twice. Although she hadn’t meant to, Cathy found herself having a soft spot for the barista. But who could blame her? Free coffee was one way to open her heart, but then Anne had managed to cement herself in there with good conversation, laughter and, most importantly, actually caring for Cathy. She was the first in the city to do so.

There was one thing though; Anne still kept spelling her name wrong. Even after she had finally confessed that her name was actually spelt with a C.

“I made you a caramel macchiato,” Anne announced one day, setting the drink onto Cathy’s table. “It’s my favourite. I have to go now though, I just wanted to give you something before we got too busy.”

“Thank you.” Cathy warmly replied, looking up from her laptop and waving Anne off before looking down at the cup. Instead of the usual _Cathy_ variant with a K _,_ there was _Cathie_ written there instead.

That was the first time Cathy caught on to the fact that Anne might have been spelling it incorrectly on purpose. More evidence to support that idea just came flying in as she continued to get served by Anne. All sorts of variations in spelling appeared at the side of each of her coffee cups, a different one each time.

_Cathi, Cathee_ and more had all shown up on the side of her cup, and somehow the joke never got old to her. Within a few days, she was pretty sure that Anne was most definitely spelling her name wrong on purpose. But Anne wasn’t confessing a word, only sending her playful grins from across the coffee shop every time she inspected the name, which really did speak for itself.

“You know it’s Cathy with a Y.” Cathy explained after Anne handed her a cup that had _Cathea_ scrawled over it.

“Oh. Let me correct that.” Anne took the cup back, carefully wiping away the triple E and writing something else down before passing it over again.

Thinking she had finally caught her out, Cathy took the cup back, looking eagerly at the name. What stared back at her proved that that was not the case. _Cathwhy._

“Cath _why_?” She glanced back up at Anne with disbelief.

“What?” Anne asked with faux obliviousness. “You said it’s spelt with a Y.”

Cathy really needed to up her game.

Soon after that, however, Anne seemed to have exhausted every reasonable alternative spelling. At least, Cathy was struggling to predict what she was going to come up with next. There was surely only a few more days she could keep the game up before she was forced to reuse old variations or, likely begrudgingly, finally spell the word correctly.

Apparently not, because the next time Cathy got served by Anne she was greeted with a word that wasn’t even a variation of her name at all; _Caffeine._ Then, the day after, she got _Catharsis._ And then _Catholic._ Eventually, the ‘Cath’ sound was dropped altogether, with Anne writing any word beginning with C on the side of the cup.

_Cholesterol._

_Caterpillar._

_Caprisun._

Anyone else would have gotten annoyed ages ago, but Cathy couldn’t help but playfully roll her eyes every time. It actually became something she looked forward to seeing every day; always interested in seeing whatever Anne came up with.

Maybe it was a bad sign that Anne was purposefully spelling her name wrong every time; a sign that she didn’t reciprocate Cathy’s feelings. That was a bit of a mood dampener, but it didn’t stop her from falling any deeper. In fact, Cathy tried to convince herself that the unchanging misspelling was a token of affection until it got to the point that her schoolyard crush was becoming more like an actual infatuation. She wanted to know if Anne possibly felt the same; if she wanted to try and take things a little further too.

Luckily, it wasn’t long before she got her answer.

Just like the night Cathy met Anne, she entered the coffee shop after a day’s shift at her own job, the sky was busy darkening outside. With the setting of the sun, mostly everyone had left; few customers were dotted around the tables, and Anne was the only one working. She looked up at the sound of the door opening, beaming at the sight of Cathy and walking to the ordering point to meet her.

“So, what’s it today?” Anne asked in greeting. “Coffee? Tea? Me?”

There was a grin on Anne’s face at the last option. Cathy only blushed.

_You,_ she thought.

“Coffee.” She said.

“Obviously.” Anne chuckled. “Vanilla iced?”

“You know me.” Cathy smiled a little.

“You always want one of those after you’ve finished at work,” Anne responded, turning around and throwing everything into the blender.

It was ready in a minute, and so she fixed the cup ready and slid it across the counter for Cathy to take.

Piercing a straw in, Cathy took a sip and then glanced down at the name written across the side, wondering what to expect of Anne tonight. Instead of the usual noun that Anne had grown to favour, there was something else. _Cwksaxcni._

That was it. Quite literally a random assortment of letters, probably spontaneously scribbled on as Anne thought of them one by one.

It was also the last straw. Cathy couldn’t contain it anymore, failing to bite back her laughter in front of Anne and bursting into it right there.

“What is this?” She guffawed, turning the cup around so the side with the writing on was facing Anne instead. “Cwks… Cwksax…”

Slowly, she tried to pronounce the mess of random letters, but to no avail. Especially not through her fit of laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Anne asked, trying to remain straight-faced and confused but even Cathy could slowly see her resolve starting to crack too. After months of mutually being aware of the fact that Anne was spelling it wrong, it seemed like their unspoken agreement to not bring it up was finally coming to an end.

“You haven’t spelt my name correctly one single time since you came here.” Cathy finally explained after recollecting herself. “And now you’re just putting… _this?_ ”

Anne blinked, beginning to chew on her bottom lip to keep up the act but even she couldn’t anymore.

“ _Fine._ ” She relented with a heavy sigh, but there was muffled laughter in her voice. “Pass it here so I can actually spell it right.”

Eyebrows raised, Cathy handed the drink back to Anne. The last thing she had been expecting to come from the day was for the game to end, but she couldn’t help but feel a little triumphant about it. Even though they weren’t necessarily competing against each other, that was what it had come to feel like. And so there was a bit of satisfaction in watching Anne carefully write her actual name onto the space, as well as a flair of excitement as she took the cup back.

Only, when she looked down at the cup, _Cathy_ still wasn’t there. Instead, there was a string of numbers. Incredulous, Cathy looked back up for a second time to meet the smirking face of Anne.

“This is even worse!” She exclaimed with exasperation. “Random numbers, seriously?”

“Hey, they aren’t _random_ numbers,” Anne said, raising a hand to her heart with mock offence.

“Then what are they?”

“They make up my number. You should call me.”

“Oh.” Cathy looked back down at the long number, everything clicking into place. And then she realised what Anne had said, head shooting back up. “Wait, _what?_ ”

She didn’t know if she interpreted that the right way.

“Call me. Or text me.” Her voice was suddenly smooth. “I was hoping we could meet up sometime. You know, out of this shop for once. And maybe for a date?”

Her eyes turned hopeful, whilst Cathy’s just widened.

“Like seriously?”

Cathy needed the confirmation. Even though she knew exactly what Anne had just said, she still couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing. Part of her didn’t believe it; there was no way she was just that lucky.

“Uh, yeah.” Anne’s smile turned from confident to a little sheepish, clearly growing a little nervous. Cathy quickly grew determined to amend that.

“Well, yes, I’d be interested in that.” She replied, voice buzzing with joy.

For the most part, it hadn’t even dawned on her that Anne had asked her on a date. When she got home and the news really settled in, she was sure she was going to jump around with a lot more excitement.

“Great.” The smile quickly returned with full force, though this time backed with relief. “Text me, then. We can talk about the details.”

“If you pass me your phone, I’ll put my number in.”

“Alright.” Anne dug around in her pocket underneath the apron, eventually pulling her phone out and handing it to Cathy. “Give me yours too.”

Cathy did the same, setting the cup down onto the counter and finding her phone, passing it over. When they had both entered their contacts, Cathy making sure to spell her name correctly in Anne’s, they exchanged the devices once more.

“Thanks,” Anne said as she slipped her phone back out of sight. Her eyes then travelled to the window. “As much as I want you to stay, you should get going before it’s properly dark out. Unless you want to sit here for three more hours until I can walk you home.”

Cathy’s mood dampened. Even though she wanted to stay, she knew Anne was right; she didn’t want to be caught out in the city alone and at night, and she couldn’t wait three more hours because she had classwork which she had stupidly procrastinated to the point that it was due in tomorrow.

“Will you text me when you’re home?” She asked.

“Obviously. Why else would I ask for your number?”

Cathy rolled her eyes.

“Alright then.”

With a few goodbyes and well wishes, Cathy wrapped a napkin around her palm to make sure the drink wouldn’t ice her hand up too much and walked out of the coffee shop. She sped home with a spring in her step, getting through her front door before it got pitch black out and kicking her shoes off as she got inside.

For a few hours, she lounged around her dorm room, passing the time with completing the assignments that had forced her to come back this early whilst she eagerly waited for a text from Anne. There was still no describing the thrum of excitement in her chest, one she knew would explode right then and there the moment they made official arrangements for official dates.

An official date with Anne. Cathy couldn’t believe her luck.

Then, finally, after finishing all of her work and spending at least twenty minutes flicking through Netflix, a notification rolled through.

**_From: Anne_ **

**_hey, is this cathy?_ **

Cathy began to type.

**_To: Anne_ **

**_woah_ **

**_let me take a screenshot to commemorate the first ever time you actually spelt my name right_ **

**_From: Anne_ **

**_if u point it out like that every time i will go back to calling you calculator_ **

**_(also get it printed and framed)_ **

**_To: Anne_ **

**_i’m already on freeprints.com_ **

They spent a few minutes joking around with each other before moving onto the actual reason they had exchanged numbers in the first place; a date. For the rest of the evening, the pair discussed what they wanted to do with each other the first time they met up outside the coffee shop. Cathy grinned as she typed her final message.

**_To: Anne_ **

**_yay! i can’t wait to see you there, ann_ **

**_From: Anne_ **

**_ann?_ **

**_i guess i’ve been setting myself up for that one_ **

Cathy just grinned at the response, typing a goodnight and then letting her phone rest at her side. She was perfectly correct in her previous predictions; her heart did explode with giddy excitement the moment they had finished speaking.


End file.
